Uri Berliner, the NPR “whistleblower” who accused his network of having a left-wing bias in a letter published by The Free Press last week, was suspended from his role as senior business editor for five days without pay. He has worked for the company for 25 years and had expressed hope in his letter that new NPR leadership would improve the outlet’s quality.
National Public Radio (NPR) announced the suspension in a standalone article on its website. “Berliner’s five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported,” a staff writer, David Folkenflik, speaking on behalf of the company said. “Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner’s essay for the online news site The Free Press. It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network’s coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.”
The monthly meetings were announced by chief news executive Edith Chapin, saying that executive editor Eva Rodriguez would lead internal review sessions for people to raise complaints about biased coverage. “Among the questions we’ll ask of ourselves each month: Did we capture the diversity of this country — racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political geographic, etc — in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?” Chapin wrote in the memo. “Did we offer coverage that helped them understand — even if just a bit better — those neighbors with whom they share little in common?”
Berliner said he thought the review sessions would be a welcome addition but said he would reserve judgment on them until he sees how they unfold.
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The writer went onto note that Chris Rufo, conservative activist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has gone on a rampage on X exposing past tweets of NPR’s new CEO Katherine Maher, dredging up left-wing comments to reveal her progressive bias.
As Valuetainment previous reported, Maher had responded to Berliner with rejection, saying that “NPR’s people represent America, our irreducibly complex nation,” further adding that “We succeed through our diversity” and characterizing his comments about staff writers as “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”
Rufo, The New York Post, and several other users and outlets highlighted Maher’s past comments, such as “Donald Trump is a racist” and apologizing for her own “cis white mobility privilege.”
Berliner told Folkenflik that Maher’s response revealed she is the exact opposite type of leader as the one he described in his letter, one who could bring the network back to the center and avoid partiality. “We’re looking for a leader right now who’s going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about,” Berliner said. “And this seems to be the opposite of that.”
“I love NPR and feel it’s a national trust,” Berliner said. “We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they’re capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners.”
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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